 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
These photos show how many of our
trunks come to us and how we refinish / restore them.
This Flat Top style Trunk dates to the later 1800's and was
originally canvas covered and material lined. Lower on this page, You will see some of the
techniques we use while refinishing our trunks like this Trunk to a Wonderful new
look. |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| |
|
|
Restoration Photos and 'How We Refinish Our Trunks'' |
|
Click on the photos to enlarge image |
|
 |
 |
 |
| Interior of Flat Top
trunk first cleaning |
Interior of Dome Top
trunk first cleaning |
Glue, paint, and other
various coverings offer a real challenge. |
|
The first step to many trunks is to clean, and do a basic strip the
interior of and paper, cloth, vinyl, canvas, or what ever material it
has been covered, or re-covered with, in it's long life. |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
Spraying paper on
interior wood
with warm water soap solution |
Scraping water soaked
paper in layers |
Stripping glue, previous
varnishes, and
paint is difficult and time consuming |
|
Sometimes, removing the interior paper involves using only warm soapy
water. Other materials however, like fabric, canvas, leather, or
layers of paper involve using more aggressive solvents. Professional
paint strippers, adhesive removers, paint thinners, lacquer
thinners, etc. In bad cases, we have had to use a heat gun.
All these involve elbow grease' and a good scraper. |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Prying nail curl out of
wood |
Nail curl exposed |
Nipping nail curl off |
|
Nail removal is necessary for most trunks. In order to remove,
refinish, or replace parts, nails have to be removed. There are
several steps to nail removal which does the least amount of damage to
the Trunk. |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Handles before |
Nipping off nail head |
Punching nail shaft
through |
|
Replacing Handles is a common requirement. Handle covers, and handles
must be removed, and new leather handles, are replaced with the
refinished handle covers. |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Hammering the new nail
in place |
Holding 'Dolly' while
hammering nail |
Handles after |
|
Replacing nails properly involves a special technique utilizing
specialized tools. 'Turning the Nail' properly is a requirement in
replacing nails. Nails are special nails, and come in several
sizes, and metals. |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Before Paint is removed |
Applying paint stripper |
Applying paint stripper |
 |
 |
 |
| Wire wheeling rust off
parts |
After Paint stripper,
washing metal with various solvents to remove excess paint |
After several times
paint stripping
and washing with solvent then wire brushing with multiple types of
brushes |
| Stripping
multiple layers of old paint from the metal is often a challenge.
Stripping solvents, sanding, and wire brushing are often needed to
get to the primary metal base. We generally do not strip all the
way to metal since we like some of the original character of the
aged metal surface. Sometimes exposing the metal and resurfacing
it to a new smooth finish is desired. This is a personal
preference based on the trunk. |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
Many trunks have bad
sections of
sheet metal which have to be removed |
A new section is cut out
of new,
or as we prefer, salvage sheet metal. |
The replacement piece
is fitted into
place, corners folded, and nailed. |
|
Many trunks have damage
to their exterior sheet metal, or tin. You can buy sheet metal and
replace it. We try to salvage trunks and use the salvage tin since
it is aged,, and matches the rest of the trunks a little closer. |
|
|
|
We often see trunk repairs which we have to repair
properly.
We often need to repair / replace wood, and metal .
Reproduction parts are also often needed. The 1st repair
below took approx. 6 hours to remove the old damage, cut out the
damaged wood, cut a replacement (we used the unused tray rail wood
from the same trunk in this case) secure and fill the wood
replacement, and replace new metal. |
|
|
 |
 |
|
Trunk before repair work, The Cigar tin from the photo below center
was used to cover the hole when we got this one. |
Trunk after the repairs made and now to be refinished. See the
photos below to see how we made this repair. |
|
 |
 |
 |
Original Handle ends
made from recycled
tin cans in the late 1800's |
Tin
repair from old Cigar tin can |
Once the repair metal is
removed, the damage is exposed |
|
 |
 |
 |
| |
|
|
After the damage is
removed, the
damaged wood is replaced |
The replacement is
secured in place, and glued and filled to be solid and secure. |
The missing tin is
replaced with new metal, and is ready for refinishing . |
|
|
Metal repair/
refinishing, and replacement is often needed when refinishing an
Antique Trunk with damaged, rusted, or missing parts. |
|
| |
|
|
 |
 |
|
Damaged edges are is a
common issue,
and not an easy repair. |
The old metal, nails,
and hardware has to be removed without damage to the body |
Metal replaced w/
metal from a salvage trunk, re-nailed, hardware
reinstalled |
|
| |
 |
 |
| |
Metal Medallion Bent and
damaged |
Metal Medallion repaired
/ refinished |
|
|
Some Antique Trunks are covered in
leather. Generally we remove the Leather to expose the wood, but
Very Rarely, when we can, we will clean it, and refinish the imprinted patterns. |
|
 |
 |
 |
Leather covered trunk
before leather removal |
Leather covered trunk
before leather removal |
Leather covered trunk
after leather removal |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
Leather covered trunk after leather removal and scraping / cleaning |
Leather covered trunk after leather removal and scraping / cleaning |
Leather covered trunk after leather removal and scraping / cleaning |
|
 |
 |
 |
| Before cleaning and
restoration |
Original condition with
one corner
cleaned and partially restored/refinished |
After cleaning,
repainting,
and refiinishing |
|
|
Canvas can often be stained and discolored. in
some cases, the canvas finish and color can be restored
|
|
 |
 |
|
Steamer Trunk canvas before cleaning and restoration |
Steamer Trunk canvas after cleaning and restoration |
|
|
Sanding is the primary
function in preparing a trunk for refinishing. Wood, and metal
surfaces both require good preparation before finish work can
begin. We generally do 2-3 steps. (1) Initial stripping of surface
materials or coverings, (2)First sanding with aggressive type sand
paper, (3) finish sanding with progressively finer grades of
paper. |
|
 |
 |
 |
| First sanding |
Second sanding /
finish sanding |
Block hand sanding |
|
 |
 |
 |
| Interior wood cleaned
and sanded |
Exterior wood cleaned
and sanded |
Exterior metal cleaned *
note* often some original finish remains |
|
Once the exterior wood
and metal is cleaned and prepared, then you can really see what
you are working with. Decisions on the type and decor of the
finish to use can now be made. Once again, preparation of the
surfaces before finish work is critical. Don't cut corners here,
as it makes all the difference. |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Staining wood surfaces |
Varnish / Tung oil
application |
Varnish / Tung oil
application |
| Staining
and Varnishing are the 'icing on the cake'. We generally use high
quality oil based stains, and often mix our own colors to get the
desired effect we are looking for. Color blending is often
necessary as different portions of the aged wood will take the
stain differently, and you want an overall matching color. When it
comes to the final finish, we choose to use a high quality Tung
Oil, Varnish, or furniture grade beeswax finish. Generally with
varnish or Tung oil finishes, we apply 3-4 coats with fine sanding
between coats to build up a nice finish. On trunks which we are
looking for a more aged look, we will often stain, and then
beeswax several coats to achieve a nice smooth finish. |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Applying Paint to
exterior wood or canvas |
Applying Paint to
exterior metal (brush) |
Applying Paint to
exterior metal (spray) |
| |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Trunk taped off for
metal painting |
Trunk taped off for
metal painting |
Removing the paper -
'The Peel' |
Painting
the exterior of an antique trunk, chest, or woodenware box, is not
what we generally like to do. However, sometimes the project
requires this. In the case of wood, or canvas which has been
previously painted, it will often require painstaking time and
effort, not to mention possible major sanding, to get to the bare
wood. This can mean changing the original lines of the wood. In
these cases, we have to decide if the potential selling price of
the trunk justifies the extensive time and effort. For us,
it generally does not. For you, if your trunk is sentimental, it
might be. Just be careful not to do more damage than good. In the
case of wood painting, we choose to do multiple layers of high
quality paint. We start with a primer coat, and add layers as
needed with sanding in between. The finish is not' Furniture
company grade' but it is very nice, and keeping with a trunk of
it's age. In the case of metal, we generally spray all the metal
we can with a high quality metal rust inhibitor type paint. Now
some people say spraying is not good, but my car, appliances,
metal furniture, etc, have sprayed finishes, and they are done
that way since it results in a better finish . We hand
paint the majority of the decorative metal elements as they are
intricate, and need small precise work.
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Rubbing gold / silver
accents |
Customizing paint finish |
Applying faux finish |
|
Decorative painting and accent touches are very desirable, and
require an artist touch. These often make all the difference. |
|
|
| |
|
|
